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BHCS Update: 1/1/21

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Happy New Year, BHCS!

BHCS Website Relaunch

Check out our new website! I'd like to give a huge shoutout to Lisa Arhontes-Marshall at Beehive Development for making this happen in such a timely manner as well as Phelan Gallagher and Tracy Gandy for their hours of dedication to this project. I am really proud of what our team has put together. www.bhcs.org

Week of January 4th

As a reminder, we will be following our RED PLAN schedule for the week of January 4th. All students have their supplies including bins and iPads for learning that were sent home on 12/22. If you have any questions about the schedule for learning or materials needed, please let your child's teacher know via email. The last remote week we had in November was very successful and we had great attendance. We hope to have the same great attendance from our students this week. Thank you in advance to parents and guardians who make this great virtual attendance a priority!

Travel Guidelines:

The following travel guidelines have been adopted by our school board for the remainder of the school year: 

"Upon returning to Maine and before returning to in-person school, BHCS staff and students must choose one of the following:

a) Quarantine for 14 days before returning to in-person school

OR

b) Quarantine for at least 5 days, then take an approved test. Remain in quarantine while awaiting test results. Certification of a negative COVID-19 test must be presented to the BHCS School Nurse before returning to in-person school."

Please reach out to our School Nurse, April Chapman (and your primary care provider) if you are traveling to a non-exempt state. During quarantine, students may learn remotely.

Remote Learning 

We continue to offer remote learning as an option for families who are concerned about sending students to school in person. Following our last break we had an additional 40-50 students opt in to remote learning (prior to that we had around 35), and are now at just under 60 students total. This leap in numbers was honestly very overwhelming to our staff and the numbers changed daily. As we re-enter school in person on January 11th, please do your best as a family to make a commitment to either in person or remote learning that will last until at least February break. If you are planning to change from in person to remote or from remote to in person learning, I need to be notified via email by Tuesday of this week (January 5th) to ensure that teachers are preparing remote learning materials for the correct students for the following week. Thank you very much for your help and understanding with this. 

Peninsula Free Health Clinic Information for January

Please see the attached information regarding clinic dates at the Peninsula Free Health Clinic for January. Free Clinic Dates 

 

Here's to a bright and healthy 2021!

Warmly,

Shelly

BHCS Update: 12/31/20

Dear BHCS Families,

I hope that all of you have had a wonderful and restful holiday season. So far, we have 34 students in Grades 5-8 who have signed up for our winter sports program. If you are interested in signing up your child and have not already done so, you can do so at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKghXrGxZtmB7p5BkJUHXyx3GSsfLeAnoj5B-pI9gvWDhXsA/viewform?usp=sf_link.

As I mentioned last week, there will be a Zoom meeting for parents to go over the expectations for the winter sports season. That meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 5th at 5pm on Zoom. At this meeting, I will go over the COVID-19 protocols that are in place, as well as share other important pieces of information about the winter sports season with families. This meeting is important for parents to attend and is mandatory before students can participate in our winter sports program. The Zoom link to this meeting can be found in this email, and on both the school and athletic calendars located on the BHCS.org website. The BHCS website has recently undergone some major updates, and should be fully functional to the public shortly. Please take a moment to check out the newly updated website, when it is available. 

I will also be holding mandatory Zoom meetings just for those students who are participating in winter sports on Wednesday, January 6th at 4pm for basketball and on Thursday, January 7th at 3pm for cheering. At these meetings, I will go over the expectations for winter sports with the students, and will also go over with them the NFHS COVID-19 training that we have asked all of our coaches to complete prior to the start of the season. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page in regards to COVID-19 safety protocols. If you are interested in knowing more about the NFHS COVID-19 training, you can read more about it at https://nfhslearn.com/courses/covid-19-for-coaches-and-administrators. 

Visit the Athletics calendar for more details including Zoom info.

I know that I have shared quite a bit of information in this email, which I am sure will generate plenty of questions. If you have any questions, please let me know. I will be happy to answer them. I am excited to get the winter sports season started. I know that together, we can make this a safe and positive experience for the students of BHCS! Enjoy the rest of your break, and have a safe and happy start to 2021!

Thank you,

Derek Perkins

Winter Sports Plan - Google Docs.pdf 

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Explorations: December 18, 2020

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Good Afternoon BHCS Community,

BHCS has been bringing the holiday cheer these past few weeks! We have made decorations and treats for the Island Nursing Home, decorated doors, dressed up in festive sweaters and clothes, eaten a yummy turkey dinner and we even got to go sledding today! We hope that we have helped our students to feel the magic of the season even during these uneasy times. 

On Tuesday of next week, all BHCS students will be sent home with iPads, chargers and materials for remote learning for the week of January 4-8. We will follow the Red Plan schedule for that week. Look for more information from your child's teacher(s). If you would like to pick up breakfasts and lunches during our remote week, please email Loretta Smith by Tuesday, 12/22 in the afternoon. In this week's newsletter, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Gallagher, Mrs. Gandy and I have shared important information regarding iPads that we ask you to be sure to read Explorations. 

Please read about our Winter Sports Plan for 5th-8th grade students. Winter sports at BHCS will begin with in-person sessions on January 11th for students in Grades 5-8. To sign up, please go to https://forms.gle/kBiY6TLknJKSFkNi8 and complete the digital form.

If your student received any grades of "Incomplete" on their report card, work must be made up by Friday, January 15th for credit.

Have a very happy holiday break!

Warmly,

Shelly


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BHCS Update: 12/4/20

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Good Evening BHCS Community,

Great job navigating the roller coaster of this week, everyone! 

1.There are new mask guidelines from the Department of Education in place moving forward that I'd like families to be aware of. Mask breaks will now be limited to 5 minutes each, up to a maximum of 15 minutes per day and must be outside. During a mask break, students must be seated, 6-feet apart, and facing the same direction. All recess time is now masked (most of our students were doing this anyway). Students will be eating inside now that it is colder, and must maintain 6 feet of distance while also facing the same direction. Please review this video with your children to ensure safe and properly fitting masks: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NnrdqEzPoWgLB-jBpxH5bOUI9Dg6oQOb/view

2. We are looking forward to seeing students back in person, however, we hope that you will be especially mindful of our school community each day you send your child to us. One way that you can do this is to please take great care and consideration when filling out your child's green tickets. Also, before sending your child to BHCS on Monday, please consider the following and contact our awesome school nurse, April Chapman at achapman@bhcs.org if any of the following scenarios apply: 

  • If your child has been ill with any COVID like symptoms while on break.

  • If you, or someone in your household is a close contact of a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.

  • If your child has travelled outside of the state of Maine anytime within the last two weeks.

3. Be sure to return all materials to school on Monday. This includes bins or bags, iPads and iPad CHARGERS (blocks and cables).

4. If you plan to have your child switch to remote learning, please email me.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. We appreciate your support!

Warmly,

Shelly

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BHCS Update 11/30/20

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Good Evening BHCS,

I hope by now you have read Superintendent Hurvitt's email regarding our plans to be remote for the remainder of the week. Here is the plan for BHCS:

Academics Tuesday:

PK-5 students will use the packets we sent home a little over a month ago and do Day #2 OR other assignments as assigned by their teacher. Please check for an email from your child's teacher either tonight or tomorrow morning. 6-8 students will have an abbreviated day using zoom. Please check for an email from your child's teacher either tonight or tomorrow for schedule details.

Academics Wednesday through Friday:

We sent home schedules to enact in the event of a switch to a Red Plan a few weeks ago, which we will be able to begin either Wednesday or Thursday. Teachers will communicate with families in their grade level specifically regarding any schedule changes. Otherwise, please refer to the Red Schedule. 

Food for this Week:

Our kitchen staff will be working tomorrow (Tuesday) to put together food that may be picked up, this would include three breakfast meals and three lunch meals. Please email Loretta or I before noon on Tuesday if you would like to have this for your children. 

Materials and Food Pick up:

We will have a team of staff ready at both entrances for a pick up tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon between 3:00 and 5:00. If your youngest child is in grades PK-4, please pull in front of the main entrance. If your youngest child is in grades 5-8, please pull in front of the gym entrance. If you have more than one child, we will have all of your things for your children at the same entrance. Please wear a mask and only get out of your vehicle if necessary. 

Families of Students Who Were Already Remote:

In most cases, you will have things for pick up as well. If you're unsure, please reach out to your child's homeroom teacher. Our remote reading teacher will still be conducting normal classes tomorrow for remote K-3 students, but that would be the only class tomorrow that your children would login into (K-3). 

I am purposely leaving some of the details vague here because it is really important to make sure that you are reading communication that comes from teachers. Switching to remote learning, no matter how prepared we are, takes a little time and looks different at all grade levels. If you are not receiving updates from your child(ren)'s teachers, please let me know and I will facilitate that. 

Finally, I just want to say how proud I am of how well the first trimester at BHCS has gone. Our staff, students and families are hard working and resilient!

We are here for you. Please let us know if you need anything!

Warmly,

Shelly

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Explorations: November 19, 2020

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Explorations 

Dear BHCS Families,

Today we sent home important folders with every BHCS in-person student. These folders contain information about changes that COULD happen in the event we need to change to our Yellow or Red Plans. 

First, at this time we are NOT changing to a Yellow or Red Plan. We are simply trying to be proactive to help you all prepare for the possible change. 

The folders contain:

  • Your child’s group for a possible Yellow Plan

  • A remote learning guide

  • Login tools

  • Expectations for students and families

  • Schedules of when your child would be expected to zoom for class in both the Yellow and Red Plan

  • A copy of our Technology agreement (please sign and return this)

  • Information from School Nurse, April Chapman on Contact Tracing and Quarantine

As a reminder, in a YELLOW Plan, students in grades 2-8 are assigned a group, either Group A or Group B. If your child is in Group A, they would be at school on Mondays and Tuesdays and learning from home on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. If your child is in Group B, they would be learning from home on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and in person on Thursdays and Fridays. On the days students are learning at home, they will still have times during the day that they need to login to class. These schedules vary at each grade level, so the specific schedule is included in the packet sent home as well. Students in PreK, Kindergarten and First Grade would be learning in the building five days a week during a YELLOW Plan. 

In the RED Plan, all students would be learning from home, remotely, all days. Our teachers have put together schedules for lesson time where they will be actively teaching students, so students would need to be on zoom for those times. 

Again, there is NO CHANGE at this time, this information is just to help you have a better understanding of what your child’s week would be like in the event of a change. 

Please reach out to you child’s teacher or myself with any further questions or concerns.

Warmly,

Shelly

#bobcatstrong